Google User Monitoring Described
January 11, 2010
I steer clear of explaining the methods Google uses to track user behavior. Whenever I mention, noticing hover time, I get weird looks. “How Google Collects Data about You and the Internet” provides an accessible summary of the basics of Google monitoring technology. Most people don’t care much about Google’s monitoring of systems, advertisers, and such esoterica as context tags. For me the most interesting comment in the write up was:
An interesting observation when using these tools is that in many cases information can be found for everything except for Google’s own products. For example, Ad Planner and Trends for Websites don’t show site statistics for Google sites, but you can find information about any other sites.
The reason this passage struck me as useful is that it points out that Google presents a view of data that the company selects. The notion of managing information is a useful one to keep in mind when one reads about Google in the writings of poobahs, pundits and mavens who observe Google the way I learned about the Venus fly trap in biology.
Stephen E. Arnold, January 10, 2010
A freebie. I shall report this to the National Regional Research Laboratory manager in Peoria, Illinois, where the soy bean was converted from food into latex paint components.
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